Lunar year series
It is the third of four lunar year cycles, repeating every 354 days.
Saros series
Lunar Saros series 131, has 72 lunar eclipses. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.
This eclipse series began in AD 1427 with a partial eclipse at the southern edge of the Earth's shadow when the Moon was close to its descending node. Each successive Saros cycle, the Moon's orbital path is shifted northward with respect to the Earth's shadow, with the first total eclipse occurring in 1950. For the following 252 years, total eclipses occur, with the central eclipse being predicted to occur in 2078. The first partial eclipse after this is predicted to occur in the year 2220, and the final partial eclipse of the series will occur in 2707. The total lifetime of the lunar Saros series 131 is 1280 years. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.
Because of the ⅓ fraction of days in a Saros cycle, the visibility of each eclipse will differ for an observer at a given fixed locale. For the lunar Saros series 131, the first total eclipse of 1950 had its best visibility for viewers in Eastern Europe and the Middle East because mid-eclipse was at 20:44 UT. The following eclipse in the series occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day with mid-eclipse at 4:47 UT, and was best seen from North America and South America. The third total eclipse occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day than the second eclipse with mid-eclipse at 12:43 UT, and had its best visibility for viewers in the Western Pacific, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This cycle of visibility repeats from the initiation to termination of the series, with minor variations. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.
Lunar Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 57 umbral lunar eclipses (42 partial lunar eclipses and 15 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.
| Greatest | First |
|---|
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 102 minutes. [1] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
|---|
| 1427 May 10 | 1553 July 25 | 1950 Apr 2 | 2022 May 16 |
| Last |
|---|
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral |
|---|
| 2148 Jul 31 | 2202 Sep 3 | 2563 Apr 9 | 2707 Jul 7 |
Metonic series
The metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). [2] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.
The saros is a period of exactly 223 synodic months, approximately 6585.321 days, or 18 years, 10, 11, or 12 days, and 8 hours, that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. One saros period after an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, a near straight line, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur, in what is referred to as an eclipse cycle. A sar is one half of a saros.
An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on October 3, 2005, with a magnitude of 0.958. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring only 4.8 days after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller. It was visible from a narrow corridor through the Iberian peninsula and Africa and Brazil. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including all of Europe, Africa and southwestern Asia. The Sun was 96% covered in a moderate annular eclipse, lasting 4 minutes and 32 seconds and covering a broad path up to 162 km wide. The next solar eclipse in Africa occurred just 6 months later.
A total lunar eclipse occurred on 28 August 2007, lasting just over 90 minutes. The Moon entered the Earth's penumbra at 7:53:40 UTC. The first partial phase began in earnest at 8:51:16 UTC when the Moon entered the Earth's umbra. It exited the penumbra at 13:20:57 UTC.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Sunday 9 November 2003, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2003, the first being on 16 May 2003. It is the first total lunar eclipse of 21st century which happened on a micromoon day. The Moon barely edged into total eclipse for 21 minutes and 58 seconds. With the Moon just 1.78% of its diameter into the Earth's umbral shadow, the Moon may have been quite bright, but even so, this should have been worth seeing. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 31 minutes and 25 seconds. Occurring only 1.4 days before apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was 6.4% smaller than average.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Thursday 28 October 2004, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2004, the first being on 4 May 2004. It was the first lunar eclipse to take place during a World Series game, which when seen from Busch Memorial Stadium in St, Louis, Missouri, provided a surreal sight on the night the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years to end the Curse of the Bambino. Occurring 5.6 days before apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller. The moon was 10.1 days after perigee and 5.6 days before apogee.
A total lunar eclipse took place at 0308 UT (GMT) on Thursday, August 17, 1989, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 1989.
A total lunar eclipse will take place on May 26, 2040. The northern limb of the Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. This is the second central lunar eclipse of Saros series 131.
A total lunar eclipse occurred on 15–16 May 2022, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2022. The event occurred near lunar perigee; as a result, this event was referred to some in media coverage as a "super flower blood moon" and elsewhere as a "super blood moon", a supermoon that coincides with a total lunar eclipse. This was the longest total lunar eclipse visible from nearly all of North America since August 17, 1989 until the next eclipse on November 8.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Friday, August 6, 1971, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 1971. A dramatic total eclipse lasting 1 hour, 39 minutes and 24.8 seconds plunged the full Moon into deep darkness, as it passed right through the centre of the Earth's umbral shadow. While the visual effect of a total eclipse is variable, the Moon may have been stained a deep orange or red colour at maximum eclipse. This was a great spectacle for everyone who saw it. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 35 minutes and 31.9 seconds in total. Occurring only 2.2 days before perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was 3.6% larger than average and the moon passed through the center of the Earth's shadow.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Thursday, April 24, 1986, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 1986, the second being on October 17, 1986. The Moon was plunged into darkness for 1 hour, 3 minutes and 34.8 seconds, in a deep total eclipse which saw the Moon 20.217% of its diameter inside the Earth's umbral shadow. The visual effect of this depends on the state of the Earth's atmosphere, but the Moon may have been stained a deep red colour. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 18 minutes and 46.8 seconds in total. The Moon was just 1.2 days before perigee, making it 5.3% larger than average.
A total lunar eclipse will take place on 7-8 September 2025. The Moon will barely miss the center of the Earth's shadow. It will be the second of two total lunar eclipses. Occurring roughly 3 days before perigee, the Moon will appear larger than usual.
A partial lunar eclipse took place on Sunday, April 12, 1903. This nearly total lunar eclipse of Saros cycle 130 preceded the first total eclipse on April 22, 1921. The Moon was almost covered by the Earth's shadow in a very deep partial eclipse, which lasted 3 hours and 17 minutes, with 96.77% of the Moon in shadow at maximum eclipse.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Saturday, April 13, 1968, the first of two total eclipses in 1968, the second being on October 6, 1968.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Sunday, April 2, 1950. This was the first total lunar eclipse of Saros cycle 131.
A total lunar eclipse will take place on June 6, 2058. The Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow.
A total lunar eclipse will take place on June 17, 2076. The moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. While the visual effect of a total eclipse is variable, the Moon may be stained a deep orange or red color at maximum eclipse. With a gamma value of only −0.0452 and an umbral eclipse magnitude of 1.7943, this is the second greatest eclipse in Saros series 131 as well as the largest and darkest lunar eclipse between June 26, 2029 and June 28, 2094. Overall, it will be the third largest and darkest lunar eclipse of the 21st century. While it will have similar values to the lunar eclipse of July 16, 2000, totality will not last over 106 minutes due to the moon's relatively large apparent size as seen from Earth and greater speed in its elliptical orbit. Totality's expected to last 100 minutes 34 seconds from 9:11:39 to 10:52:15 with the greatest point at 10:01:57 UTC.
A total lunar eclipse will take place on June 28, 2094. The Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. While the visual effect of a total eclipse is variable, the Moon may be stained a deep orange or red color at maximum eclipse. With a gamma value of only 0.0288 and an umbral eclipse magnitude of 1.8234, this is the greatest eclipse in Saros series 131 as well as the second largest and darkest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
A partial lunar eclipse took place on Tuesday, March 22, 1932. It was the first of 2 nearly total eclipses. The second lunar eclipse of such happened on September 14. This lunar eclipse of Saros cycle 131 preceded the first total eclipse on April 2, 1950.
A partial lunar eclipse took place on Thursday, March 12, 1914.
A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on November 8, 2060. It will be too small to be visually perceptible.
